11-22-08 Update on Drought and Water situation in Oconee–Northeast Georgia Area

A recent Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority report, commissioned by the Legislature has urged increasing Georgia’s stored water supply by increasing the size of 16 reservoirs – one of which is John Briscoe Reservoir (Page 57 of the report) in Walton County.

AVOC

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November 21, 2008

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Update on Drought and Water situation in Oconee–Northeast Georgia Area

During the drought, our Oconee water use increased in June 2008 over the use in June 2007 before conservation measures were taken. The landscape and development industry had been hurt by the conservation measures imposed last year. They seem to have had some influence with the approaching Primary Election for Commission Chair Melvin Davis.

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Oconee Water Use for June 08 higher than June 07

Jun-07

590,955.80

Jun-08

669,937.73

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The state is caught up in its revenue shortfall and water source funding was one of the first cuts made by Governor Perdue. It does not seem our state leaders are really serious about the long term water problem. Metro-Atlanta and North GA cannot and will not continue to grow at its past pace. Water restrictions will not allow it.However, these type issues are ignored and considered “politically incorrect” in our current “feel good” society. AJC 11-2-08 NORTH GEORGIA: Drought more menacing, but it gets less mention

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A recent Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority report, commissioned by the Legislature has urged increasing Georgia’s stored water supply by increasing the size of16 reservoirs – one of which is John Briscoe Reservoir (Page 57 of the report) in Walton County. What is the status of the $ 350 Million Hard Labor Creek Project? Hard Labor Creek Reservoir

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The Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority, in which Clarke and Oconee Counties are major participants, should have taken the lead in increased water sources for the four county area. Instead, litigation is taking place involving Jackson County and the Authority. Athens-Clarke, which has adopted a strange ‘tiered water rate” plan, is not really asserting much regional leadership. Their latest suggestion is to put limitations on well water usage. That is not likely to happen anytime soon. If it did, we will really see some “water wars”!

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The lowered water use has also lowered revenues for Water Producers. Some cities & counties have raised rates and others are considering raising them. While we all should conserve water, customers then pay more to offset the revenue loss.

ATLANTA - The federal government has agreed to hold more water in Lake Lanier this winter.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision Friday means that Atlanta's main water supply could get a one-foot boost.

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The North Georgia reservoir is poised to drop to record low levels in January if metro Atlanta's drought continues to tighten its grip.

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The lake is now more than 18 feet below full pool.

11-14-08 Athens-Clarke officials discussing water limits on wells

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The drought is worsening in Northeast Georgia and now is classified as "exceptional," the most severe category, Stooksbury said. The Middle Oconee River, which feeds Bear Creek Reservoir, is near a record low for November, as are many other Georgia rivers and lakes, he said.

As North Georgia's drought grows more severe, the Athens-Clarke Commission wants to subject well owners to the same outdoor watering rules as municipal water customers.

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The commission asked state legislators this week to impose watering restrictions on well-users and people who draw water directly from rivers and creeks on their property during times of drought.

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Commissioners say urban and suburban residents are drilling wells to get around watering restrictions, and they're getting complaints from constituents who see neighbors use unregulated well or stream water to keep their lawns lush.

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"We're seeing wells being dug by people who want to water their shrubbery or their lawns," Commissioner Kathy Hoard said. "Basically, there is nothing we can do about that."

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Lawmakers are cool to the idea. Regional water councils that state officials will appoint next year, not the legislature, should set watering restrictions, they said.

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"We will take a look at that, but we don't want to pre-empt anything (the water councils) might do," said state Rep. Keith Heard, D-Athens.

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Many farmers and rural residents depend on well water, and restrictions on its use would violate private property rights, said state Rep. Terry England, R-Auburn, who pushed through a law last year that took the power to set outdoor watering restrictions away from local governments and gave it to the state.

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The restrictions the Athens-Clarke Commission proposed would not apply to water used for agriculture or indoor uses like washing clothes.

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It would apply to businesses, though. Water-dependent businesses like car washes and plant nurseries that buy water from Athens-Clarke County must submit a plan to the county showing how they'll cut outdoor water use by 20 percent to get an exception to watering rules. They'd have to do the same thing for well water if the commission's proposal is approved………………………..

The rains still haven’t come. Lake Lanier drops ever lower. And Georgia’s water wars with Florida and Alabama slog along.

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Yet last fall’s doomsday water scenarios have disappeared from newspaper front pages and state officials’ lips. Instead, this fall, Georgians are consumed with the financial crisis, the presidential election and gas prices.

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Meanwhile, the new year promises Year Four of the drought that has fundamentally affected the way North Georgians live.

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“In any of the discussions about the election, what are you hearing about water?” Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, asked last week. “There’s a malaise, an indifference, a feeling that we’ll wake up one day and Lake Lanier will be full.”……………..

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Still, Lake Lanier, the region’s main water source, is 18 feet below full pool —- a dangerously low level for a reservoir of water that downstream Georgia, Florida and Alabama also covet.David Stooksbury, the state’s climatologist, said that most of North Georgia’s stream, river and lake levels have dropped below last year’s already anemic levels.

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“We’re in the throes of a drought that’s never been seen in history,” Jack Dozier, executive director of the Georgia Association of Water Professionals, said during Wednesday’s 2008 Cobb County Development Symposium. “And it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

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Dozier, Olens and others lamented the state, regional and federal response to the water “crisis.” Perdue and the General Assembly’s embrace earlier this year of a statewide water plan came under particular attack.

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Perdue pledged, and later rescinded due to the state’s budget troubles, $ 40 million to expedite reservoir construction. But that was a paltry sum, according to Olens, considering that the nearly complete Hickory Log Creek Dam and Reservoir in Canton cost $ 100 million.

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Cobb County is covering three-fourths of the cost and will receive a comparable percentage of the reservoir’s water.

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“There’s total denial from the state’s perspective. They clearly don’t think we have a water problem,” said Olens, also chairman of the Cobb County Commission. “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to sit here and talk about a water plan that isn’t.”…………………………………

Financially these are tough times for Oconee County, most especially the Oconee Utility Department. Projects such as the Rocky Branch Reclamation plant and Calls Creek improvements are stalled..“We are in a holding pattern now,” says John Hatcher. “We’re definitely in better shape this year than last, but we desperately need storage.”.There was slightly over 3 inches of rain thus far in October, which freshened the greenery, but didn’t make life’s machinery run any smoother..“It wasn’t slow and steady and soaking. It helped creeks and ponds and Bear Creek a bit, but that’s all,” says the assistant director of the Oconee Utility Department. “The tail ends of those hurricanes with the rain helped a lot. It’s a shame it took natural disasters to help us………………………..

Meanwhile Director Chris Thomas and Hatcher watch with unhappiness as their revenues have slid about 36 percent.This is a considerable whack; even with the OUD going to a 4-day workweek, consolidating trips to save gas, and cutting back on overtime.